The system, known as Video Interpreting Program, has been offered by a well-established Maryland company, Sign Language Associates (“SLA”), since 1997. The system requires the use of a 3M™ VCS3100 video conferencing system and 3 ISDN phone lines. According to SLA the Video Interpreting Program™ has been used in medical, legal and general employment environments. The service is billed by the minute. At least one problem with this service is cost and efficiency of labor. In this system, the interpreters must be in a specific location for set periods of time, specifically, at a provider site possessing the specialized videoconferencing equipment. This is cost and labor inefficient as, more likely, interpreters will not be needed and utilized consistently, but will be required to be available at the equipment location, thereby, restricting their ability to provide services elsewhere.
In addition, voice recognition software has been developed. The Technology Assessment program (“TAP”) of Gallaudet University, Washington D.C. (an internationally recognized education facility for the hearing impaired) is examining automatic speech recognition (“ASR”) software, telecommunication relay services, captioning and wireless/cellular services. The current assessment of TAP is that voice recognition is making dramatic progress and while currently useable, does not suffer from “accuracy level, the problem of multiple voices and lack of clear speech” in terms of providing fully automated or live captioning. They do, however, note the ASR capabilities of Dragon Naturally Speaking and IBM Via Voice software.
In addition, TAP is actively promoting “video chat” to the hearing impaired utilizing Microsoft NetMeeting in conjunction with the ATI All-In-Wonder VGA card. However, such “video chat” is designed for use among the hearing impaired and does not address the problems associated with providing an interpreter in one of the above-described situations. TAP makes no reference to any commercial service seeking to use Internet video/audio as implemented by some of the various embodiments of the present invention.
Also, telephone utility companies and the cellular telecommunications industry provide an extensive service to facilitate communications by the hearing impaired, particularly through the use of TTY and TDD systems. To date, however, there has not been a cost effective system introduced to satisfy the need for remote visual exchanges between an interpreter, a non-hearing impaired person and a hearing disabled person. Moreover, to date, there is no indication that any service providers has moved to implement a video/audio system based on Internet connections as implemented by some of the various embodiments of the present invention
Live interpreters are an integral part of communication for the hearing impaired and there is extensive network of these skilled professionals both nationally and globally. The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, founded in 1964, provides a national organizational structure, professional association and certification process for these interpreters and transliterators. It also embraces international membership. Although live interpreting is advantageous, it fails to resolve the basic problems presented herein, namely, providing an interpreter in a timely and cost efficient manner for various situations, such as, those, which arise in medical emergency rooms and police stations. Live interpreting is, therefore, not seen as direct competition for the embodiments of the present invention. Various embodiments of the present invention may be utilized to fill a market gap—namely that of short-duration location-specific interpreting where both cost and time factors preclude the use of live interpreters.
For example, in a hospital, it may take two hours or more to locate and transport a translator or interpreter to the medical facility so that the person may provide interpretation and translation, to, for example, a hearing impaired patient or family member of a patient. Thus, the so-called golden hour is lost, because it takes, in this example, over twice as long just to begin questioning the patient in preparation for treatment. In a more typical conventional situation, at least a part of the golden hour may have been lost in transporting a patient to the hospital in preparation for treatment. Thus, the wait for a translator or interpreter to help either the patient or a family member becomes more imperative that it occurs quickly. For example, if only 10 minutes of the golden hour is left that only allows for 10 minutes to track down and transporting the translator or interpreter or any other needed third parties to the hospital emergency room. This is often proven difficult if not impossible to accomplish in this time frame.
In another scenario, as discussed above, a live interpreter might be located and provided via a teleconference system that may be set up, for example at an office specialty service provider, e.g., a Kinkos®. Unfortunately, having the interpreter being viewed at the local office specialty store rather than at the hospital really provides little, if any, ability to treat the patient or consult family members in an effective manner. Further, most hospitals do not have a significant telecommunications equipment for providing video conferencing at their facilities. However, for the hospitals that do have this equipment it is often located far away from the emergency room area and is considerably bulky and difficult, if not relatively impossible, to move from room to room. Thus, this solution of utilizing a hospital's teleconferencing equipment is also considered a failure to solve the above mentioned problems, such as medical facility interpretation, as the videoconference presentation of the interpreter is not in a useful location relative to the emergency room for the patient or the family that may be able to advise medical personnel in the treatment of the patient.
In addition, to the inconvenience of the location of the necessary teleconferencing equipment, the cost is relatively high for the utilization of the equipment even if it is attempted to be used. For example, teleconferencing equipment typically requires 3 ISDN lines to be able to receive an image on the teleconferencing equipment that provides the resolution and frame speed requisite to enable parties to the conference to be able to understand what an interpreter or translator is “saying.” This is because the translator/interpreter is utilizing sign language that requires a visual perception of the translator on the teleconferencing equipment display. When the display and/or the speed in real-time appearance of the display is not adequate to see distinct precise and specific movements of the interpreter or translator, then the communication is degraded and often becomes a complete failure in any attempt to communicate with the receiver of the display of the telecommunications equipment. The receiver may, for example, be the patient or a family member of the patient in the hospital.
A need in the industry exists for a system, method and apparatus that provides an ability to locate and utilize an interpreter and/or translator quickly, for example, in real-time or in relatively near time, without having to maintain or provide a translator or interpreter to be constantly attending and personally present at a specific location of the user of the interpretation or translation services or efforts. Further, a need also exists for a system, method and apparatus that provides for utilization of these interpretive and/or translative providers via a network, for example the World Wide Web. Still further, a need also exists for a system, method and apparatus that provides for a multi-lingual interpretive or translative option that is available anywhere in the world in real-time or near real-time.
Finally, a need exists for a system, method and apparatus for utilizing an interpretive and/or translative ability anywhere in the world by at least one of a user, recipient, and/or at least one third party that may also utilize a network, such as the World Wide Web, if desired in a relatively real-time or in near real-time utilization.